DEATH FOG LIFTS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 11384, 9 December 1930, Page 5

DEATH FOG LIFTS

WAS MIST SOLE CAUSE OF

DEATH?

BATTLE OF OPINIONS

(U:P.A. by Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received .Dec, .9, 1.4 a.m.) . LONDON, Dec. 8

At Liege the creeping death.leg has lifted, but experts of all types are ou the spot investigating possible explanations of one of the r-'-cst mysterious epidemics iu the history of disease.

A party of professors from Brussels and Liege accompanied .tho Queen oil a tour of the stricken, region. They are convinced :hat the fog was not the sole cause of .the deaths and opine the fog was impregnated with toxic particles, and they are' endeavouring to trace the poison On the contrary, Professor Felix Bertihyn states that a similar fcg caused the deaths of some people and many cattle in 1911 in the Meuso Valley. Professor Berthyn calls it ‘'fog asthma.” Tho symptoms are difficult breathing, slackening heart increments and finally death. These are all tho symptoms of aspiiyxia. There was another outbreak in 1y92, when the remedy was to convey animals and other sufferers to the hills.

Apart from the deaths in the pres* visitation, at least 400 are still affected, whereof 100 are serious. Other hypotheses are that a secret poison escaped from a German, gas factory just over the frontier. It is suggested that the fumes had been held down by the recent cold fog. Responsible opinion refuses to accept the poison gas hypothesis. ' Unfortunately, instead of ordering postmortems, the officials already have issued permits for forty burials.

The Belgian Home Office says: “One post-mortem disclosed bronchial pneumonia. It reiterates this opinion despite the angry comments of the local inhabitants.

Horsc3. pigs, and cows affected are being driven out of the district and slaughtered.

FOG LIFTS. IN BRITAIN.

CLEARANCE OF SHIPPING.

(U.P.A. by Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received Dee. 8, 5.5 p.m.) . London', Dec. 7. The fog has lifted throughout Britain, permitting the clearance or fogbound shipping in the Thames estuary. The liners .affected include the lonic for New Zealand, and the Orvietto, which only reached Tilbury to-day, instead of Thursday. The Ranpura from Bombay, . and City of Calcutta from Andulsia were similarly berthed at Tilbury. The Ormonde left to-day instead of yesterday. . .